Halfback duo Neil De Kock, and Owen Farrell, swapped the Windy City of Chicago for the Emerald City of Seattle earlier this week, writes Matthew Hennessey.

Recently added the Saracens Global Network, Seattle Saracens are one of the leading clubs in North American rugby, and De Kock and Farrell took time out from the clubs preseason camp to rub shoulders with the Seattle Saracens players and staff.

“We are delighted to be here,” said De Kock, who was speaking to thisisamericanrugby.com. “We didn’t know what to expect (visiting Seattle Saracens) but we were very keen to volunteer, although we didn’t know it was a four hour flight away!

“If you told me two years ago that we’d be in North America, experiencing what rugby’s like here I’d never have thought it would be possible, but here we are.

The former Springbok scrum half added; “It’s brilliant to be a part of what’s happening and seeing what the guys here do to grow the game of rugby in America – it’s brilliant”.

De Kock’s teammate Owen Farrell added; “Being over here for few days I can tell people are really committed to growing the game in the USA. It’s been a good trip. We’ve been able to see what work goes on here and what the Seattle guys are doing, and it’s been brilliant.

“We have partnerships all over the world now, and we are getting to go new places and meet new people. It works both ways as well; we’ve sent players and coaches out to different parts of the world with our partner clubs, and we’ve had players come in and train with us for a good couple of months, so these partnerships are good thing for everybody”.